Method, device and system for transmitting uplink information

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are a method, device and system for transmitting uplink information, which are used for solving the problem that the existing UE uplink transmission mechanism may increase the load of a Macro eNB and increase the uplink interference among UEs, and is not beneficial to power saving of UEs. The method in the embodiments of the present application comprises: a macro eNB determining an uplink transmitting node used for receiving uplink information about a UE this time from a transmission node connected to the UE; determining the effective time of the uplink transmission node determined this time; and after the effective time of the uplink transmitting node determined this time has arrived, receiving the uplink information sent by the UE through the uplink transmitting node determined this time. Under a heterogeneous network, the embodiments of the present application can flexibly determine an appropriate uplink transmission node to transmit uplink information, thereby reducing the load of the Macro eNB, reducing the interference among various UEs, improving the system throughput, and saving the electric quantity of the UEs.

This application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application No.201210581372.9, filed with the Chinese Patent Office on Dec. 27, 2012and entitled “Method, device and system for transmitting uplinkinformation”, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communicationsand particularly to a method, device and system for transmitting uplinkinformation.

BACKGROUND

There are significantly improved system peak rates required in a LongTerm Evolution-Advanced (LTE-A) system up to 1 Gbps in the downlink and500 Mbps in the uplink as compared with the Long Term Evolution (LTE)system; and also the LTE-A system is required to be well compatible withthe LTE system, and there is a bandwidth up to 20 MHz in the LTE system.Carrier Aggregation (CA) has been introduced to the LTE-A system so asto accommodate the required improvement of the peak rates, compatibilitywith the LTE system, and full use of frequency resources.

For a User Equipment (UE) with a support of CA, resources of one or morecells can be aggregated concurrently for the UE, and the UE can transmitdata concurrently in these cells. The number of cells aggregated for theUE is configured by a base station according to a service demand of theUE. In the Release 10 (R10)/Release11 (R11), each of the cellsaggregated for the UE can include a pair of uplink/downlink carriers oronly a downlink carrier, that is, the number of downlink carriers shallbe more than or equal to the number of uplink carriers, but the numberof uplink carriers shall not be more than the number of downlinkcarriers.

Cells with their carriers being aggregated are further categorized inthe LTE-A system so that the cells configured for the UE can becategorized into a Primary Cell (PCell) and a Secondary Cell (SCell)dependent upon different functions of the respective cells aggregatedfor the UE. In the scenario where the carriers are aggregated, only oneof the cells for each UE is defined as a Primary Cell, the Primary Cellis selected by the base station and configured to the UE in RadioResource Control (RRC) signaling, and the Primary Cell is primarilyresponsible for carrying transmission of all the uplink controlinformation of the carriers for the UE; and the cells aggregated for theUE other than the Primary Cell will be referred to as Secondary Cells,the Secondary Cells are configured by the base station and primarilyresponsible for transmitting traffic data of the UE.

Such a scenario where carriers are aggregated has been defined in theLTE R10 that there is a heterogeneous network including a macro eNB andlocal nodes, where the macro eNB provides underlying coverage, and thelocal nodes provide hotspot coverage. The local nodes include RemoteRadio Heads (RRHs), repeaters, local eNBs, etc. In the scenario wherethe carriers are aggregated in the heterogeneous network, downlink dataof the UE can be transmitted to the UE by only one transmitting node orcan be transmitted to the UE concurrently by two transmitting nodes; andsimilarly uplink data of the UE can be transmitted to only onetransmitting node or can be transmitted concurrently to two transmittingnodes. However from the perspective of a radio frequency design, it isrelatively easy to receive data transmitted from two transmitting nodesconcurrently in the downlink, but it may be relatively difficult totransmit data concurrently to two transmitting nodes in the uplink. Atpresent there is generally only one transmitter for the UE in theuplink, that is, there is a support of only transmission of uplink datato a single transmitting node at a time.

For a UE with a support of only uplink transmission to a single node ata time, uplink transmission of the UE is generally active only with thePCell in the existing uplink transmission mechanism. In theheterogeneous network, the macro eNB provides a large coverage area, soa cell served by the macro eNB is typically selected as the PCell. Theexisting uplink transmission mechanism suffers from the drawbacks of anincreased burden on the macro eNB, increased power consumption of theUE, increased uplink interference and a degraded throughout of thesystem.

In summary, the existing mechanism of uplink transmission by the UE maycome with an increased burden on the macro eNB, increased uplinkinterference between UEs, and degraded power saving of the UE.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention provide a method, device and system fortransmitting uplink information so as to address the problems of anincreased burden on the macro eNB, increased uplink interference betweenUEs, and degraded power saving of the UE in the existing mechanism ofuplink transmission by the UE.

An embodiment of the invention provides a method for receiving uplinkinformation, the method including:

determining, by a macro base station, from transmitting nodes connectedwith a User Equipment (UE) an uplink transmitting node for currentlyreceiving uplink information of the UE;

determining, by the macro base station, an instance of time to enablethe currently determined uplink transmitting node; and

receiving, by the macro base station, the uplink information transmittedby the UE through the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeafter the instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node arrives.

With the embodiment of the invention, an appropriate uplink transmittingnode can be determined flexibly to transmit uplink information in aheterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden on the macro basestation, alleviate uplink interference between respective UEs, improvethe throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

Preferably before the macro base station determines the uplinktransmitting node for currently receiving uplink information of the UE,the method further includes: determining, by the macro base station,that the UE supports uplink transmission to a single node at a time,according to obtained capability information of the UE.

Furthermore the macro base station may determine that the UE supportsuplink transmission to a single node at a time, in the followingoperations: if the capability information of the UE carries firstindication information for indicating the number of Radio Frequencies(RFs) included in the UE, and the first indication information indicatesthe number as 1, then the macro base station determines that the UEsupports uplink transmission to a single node at a time; if thecapability information of the UE carries second indication informationfor indicating whether the UE supports Multiple Timing Advance (MTA),and the second indication information indicates that the UE does notsupport MTA, then the macro base station determines that the UE supportsuplink transmission to a single node at a time; and if the capabilityinformation of the UE carries third indication information forindicating whether the UE supports uplink transmission to a single nodeat a time, and the third indication information indicates that the UEsupports uplink transmission to a single node at a time, then the macrobase station determines that the UE supports uplink transmission to asingle node at a time.

Further to any one of the embodiments of the method above, preferablydetermining, by the macro base station, the uplink transmitting node forcurrently receiving the uplink information of the UE includes:selecting, by the macro base station, from the transmitting nodesconnected with the UE a transmitting node satisfying a preset selectioncriterion as the currently determined uplink transmitting node; ordetermining, by the macro base station, a transmitting node serving acell corresponding to identifier information transmitted by the UE inhigher-layer signaling as the currently determined uplink transmittingnode upon reception of the identifier information, wherein theidentifier information includes identifier information of one or morecells corresponding to the uplink transmitting node selected by the UEfor the UE; or determining, by the macro base station, the uplinktransmitting node to currently receive the uplink information of the UE,according to a rule prescribed between the macro base station and theUE.

Furthermore the selection criterion may include one or more of thefollowing criterions:

the macro base station determines distances between the UE and therespective transmitting nodes according to current location informationof the UE and selects a transmitting node with the distance being theshortest or no more than a preset distance threshold as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node;

the macro base station selects a transmitting node corresponding to acell with a path loss being the lowest or no more than a preset pathloss threshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeaccording to path loss information of the UE in respective cells;

the macro base station selects a transmitting node corresponding to acell with a value of Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) being thehighest or more than a preset RSRQ threshold as the currently determineduplink transmitting node according to reference signal receptionconditions of the UE in respective cells;

the macro base station selects a transmitting node corresponding to acell with a value of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) being thehighest or more than a preset RSRP threshold as the currently determineduplink transmitting node according to reference signal receptionconditions of the UE in respective cells;

the macro base station selects a transmitting node corresponding to acell with a value of Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) being the highestor more than a preset CQI threshold as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to reference signal reception conditions ofthe UE in respective cells; and

the macro base station selects a transmitting node corresponding to acell with a value of Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) reception qualitybeing the highest or more than a preset SRS threshold as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node according to reception qualities ofthe SRSs transmitted by the UE in respective cells.

Furthermore after the macro base station selects the transmitting nodesatisfying the preset selection criterion as the currently determineduplink transmitting node, and before the macro base station determinesthe instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node, the method may further include: signaling, by themacro base station, the currently determined uplink transmitting node tothe UE upon determining that the currently determined uplinktransmitting node is different from a lastly determined uplinktransmitting node, wherein the signaling carries the identifierinformation of the one or more cells corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node.

Preferably the signaling includes Radio Resource Control (RRC)signaling, Media Access Control (MAC) signaling or physical layersignaling.

If the signaling is the physical layer signaling, then determining, bythe macro base station, the uplink transmitting node to currentlyreceive the uplink information of the UE may include: at a specifiedinstance of time, if there is a demand for uplink transmission over anyof component carriers aggregated for the UE, then determining, by themacro base station, a transmitting node serving the component carrier,over which there is the demand for uplink transmission, as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node.

Preferably the identifier information of the cell is an index number ofthe cell; or the identifier information of the cell is a combination ofa Downlink (DL) frequency and a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI); or theidentifier information of the cell is an E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier(ECGI).

Preferably the prescribed rule includes such a rule that a differenttransmitting node is selected in each preset change cycle as an uplinktransmitting node determined each time.

Furthermore the change cycles and offsets of different UEs areconfigured by the macro base station or prescribed between the macrobase station and the respective UEs.

Preferably determining, by the macro base station, the instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node includes:determining, by the macro base station, the instance of time to enablethe currently determined uplink transmitting node, according to aninstance of time when the macro base station transmits the signaling,and an enabling instance of time prescribed between the macro basestation and the UE; or determining, by the macro base station, aninstance of time when the macro base station receives a Hybrid AutomaticRepeat Request (HARQ) Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback or an RRC responsemessage transmitted by the UE for the signaling as the instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; or if thesignaling is physical layer signaling, then determining, by the macrobase station, a sub-frame carrying the physical layer signaling as theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode; or determining, by the macro base station, the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, according toan instance of time when the UE transmits the higher-layer signaling,and an enabling instance of time prescribed between the macro basestation and the UE; or determining, by the macro base station, theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, according to a current System Frame Number (SFN), sub-frame numberand offset, and a change cycle corresponding to the uplink transmittingnode.

Preferably if the macro base station determines the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, according tothe instance of time when the signaling is transmitted, and the enablinginstance of time prescribed between the macro base station and the UE,then after the macro base station signals the currently determineduplink transmitting node to the UE and before the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives, themethod further includes: receiving, by the macro base station, theuplink information transmitted by the UE through a lastly determineduplink transmitting node; or terminating, by the macro base station,uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE.

Preferably if the macro base station determines the instance of timewhen the macro base station receives the HARQ ACK feedback or the RRCresponse message transmitted by the UE for the signaling as the instanceof time to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node,then after the macro base station signals the currently determineduplink transmitting node to the UE and before the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives, themethod further includes: detecting, by the macro base station, theuplink information transmitted by the UE respectively through a lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node and the currently determined uplinktransmitting node; or terminating, by the macro base station,uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE.

An embodiment of the invention provides a method for transmitting uplinkinformation, the method including:

determining, by a User Equipment (UE), from transmitting nodes connectedtherewith an uplink transmitting node to which uplink information of theUE needs to be transmitted currently;

determining, by the UE, an instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node; and

transmitting, by the UE, the uplink information to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node after the instance of time to enablethe currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives.

With the embodiment of the invention, an appropriate uplink transmittingnode can be determined flexibly to transmit uplink information in aheterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden on the macro basestation, alleviate uplink interference between respective UEs, improvethe throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

Preferably determining, by the UE, the uplink transmitting node to whichthe uplink information of the UE needs to be transmitted includes:

selecting, by the UE, from the transmitting nodes connected therewith atransmitting node satisfying a preset determination criterion as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; or determining, by theUE, a transmitting node serving a cell corresponding to identifierinformation signaled by a macro base station as the currently determineduplink transmitting node upon reception of the identifier information,wherein the identifier information includes identifier information ofone or more cells corresponding to the uplink transmitting node selectedby the macro base station for the UE; or determining, by the UE, theuplink transmitting node to which the uplink information of the UE needsto be transmitted currently, according to a rule prescribed between theUE and the macro base station.

Furthermore the determination criterion may include one or more of thefollowing criterions:

the UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of RSRP being the highest or more than a preset RSRPthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells;

the UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of RSRQ being the highest or more than a preset RSRQthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells;

the UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of CQI being the highest or more than a preset CQIthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells;

the UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of path loss being the lowest as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node according to measurement results ofthe UE for respective serving cells; and

the UE determines distances between the UE and the respectivetransmitting nodes according to current location information of the UEand selects a transmitting node with the distance being the shortest asthe currently determined uplink transmitting node.

Preferably after the UE selects the transmitting node satisfying thepreset determination criterion as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node and before the UE determines the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, the methodfurther includes: signaling, by the UE, the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the macro base station in higher-layer signalingupon determining that the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeis different from a lastly determined uplink transmitting node, whereinthe higher-layer signaling carries the identifier information of the oneor more cells corresponding to the currently determined uplinktransmitting node.

Furthermore the identifier information is an index number of the cell;or the identifier information is a combination of a downlink (DL)frequency and a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI); or the identifierinformation is an ECGI.

Preferably if the signaling transmitted by the macro base station isphysical layer signaling carrying uplink scheduling information, thendetermining, by the UE, the uplink transmitting node to which the uplinkinformation of the UE needs to be transmitted currently includes:determining, by the UE, a transmitting node serving a cell correspondingto the uplink scheduling information carried in the physical layersignaling as the uplink transmitting node to which the uplinkinformation of the UE needs to be transmitted currently.

Preferably the prescribed rule includes such a rule that a differenttransmitting node is selected in each preset change cycle as an uplinktransmitting node determined each time.

Furthermore the change cycles and offsets of different UEs areconfigured by the macro base station or prescribed between the macrobase station and the respective UEs.

Preferably determining, by the UE, the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node includes: determining, bythe UE, the instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node, according to an instance of time when the UEtransmits the higher-layer signaling, and an enabling instance of timeprescribed between the UE and the macro base station; or determining, bythe UE, the instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node, according to an instance of time when the macro basestation transmits the signaling, and an enabling instance of timeprescribed between the UE and the macro base station; or determining, bythe UE, an instance of time when the UE receives the identifierinformation transmitted by the macro base station as the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; or ifthe signaling transmitted by the macro base station is physical layersignaling, then determining, by the UE, a sub-frame carrying thephysical layer signaling as the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node; or determining, by the UE, theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, according to a current System Frame Number (SFN), sub-frame numberand offset, and a change cycle corresponding to the uplink transmittingnode.

Further to any one of the embodiments of the method above, preferablybefore the UE determines the uplink transmitting node to currentlytransmit the uplink information and before the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives, themethod further includes: transmitting, by the UE, the uplink informationto a lastly determined uplink transmitting node.

Further to any one of the embodiments of the method above, preferablytransmitting, by the UE, the uplink information to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node includes: transmitting, by the UE,the uplink information over an uplink carrier corresponding to thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore if a plurality of component carriers among carriersaggregated for the UE are configured with Physical Uplink ControlChannels (PUCCHs), then transmitting, by the UE, the uplink informationover the uplink carrier corresponding to the currently determined uplinktransmitting node includes: transmitting, by the UE, the uplinkinformation over a component carrier served by the currently determineduplink transmitting node and configured with a PUCCH.

Further to any one of the embodiments of the method above, preferablyafter the UE determines the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node, the method further includes one ormore of the steps of:

deleting, by the UE, an uplink scheduling configuration, stored by theUE, corresponding to a lastly determined uplink transmitting node;

storing, by the UE, a value of Timing Advance (TA) of a cell or a TimingAdvance Group (TAG) corresponding to the lastly determined uplinktransmitting node;

stopping, by the UE, an SRS, a Dedicated Scheduling Request (DSR) and aCQI from being transmitted to the lastly determined uplink transmittingnode;

determining, by the UE, a value of TA of a cell corresponding to thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; and

deleting, by the UE, a HARQ buffer, stored by the UE, of the cellcorresponding to the lastly determined uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore determining, by the UE, the value of TA of the cellcorresponding to the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeincludes: determining, by the UE, the value of TA of the cellcorresponding to the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeaccording to a received Timing Advance Command (TAC) Media AccessControl (MAC) Control Element (CE), and the value of TA, stored by theUE, of the cell or the TAG corresponding to the lastly determined uplinktransmitting node after the uplink transmitting node to currentlytransmit the uplink information is determined; or obtaining, by the UE,the value of TA of the cell corresponding to the currently determineduplink transmitting node in a Random Access (RA) procedure after theuplink transmitting node to currently transmit the uplink information isdetermined

An embodiment of the invention provides a macro base station including:

a first determining module configured to determine from transmittingnodes connected with a User Equipment (UE) an uplink transmitting nodefor currently receiving uplink information of the UE;

a second determining module configured to determine an instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; and

a receiving module configured to receive the uplink informationtransmitted by the UE through the currently determined uplinktransmitting node after the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node arrives.

With the embodiment of the invention, an appropriate uplink transmittingnode can be determined flexibly to transmit uplink information in aheterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden on the macro basestation, alleviate uplink interference between respective UEs, improvethe throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

Preferably the first determining module is configured: to select fromthe transmitting nodes connected with the UE a transmitting nodesatisfying a preset selection criterion as the currently determineduplink transmitting node; or to determine a transmitting node serving acell corresponding to identifier information transmitted by the UE inhigher-layer signaling as the currently determined uplink transmittingnode upon reception of the identifier information, wherein theidentifier information includes identifier information of one or morecells corresponding to the uplink transmitting node selected by the UEfor the UE; or to determine the uplink transmitting node for currentlyreceiving the uplink information of the UE, according to a ruleprescribed between the macro base station and the UE.

Preferably the first determining module is further configured: to signalthe currently determined uplink transmitting node to the UE if it isdetermined that the currently determined uplink transmitting node isdifferent from a lastly determined uplink transmitting node after thetransmitting node satisfying the preset selection criterion is selectedas the currently determined uplink transmitting node and before theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode is determined, wherein the signaling carries the identifierinformation of the one or more cells corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node.

Preferably the second determining module is configured: to determine theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, according to an instance of time when the macro base stationtransmits the signaling, and an enabling instance of time prescribedbetween the macro base station and the UE; or to determine an instanceof time when the macro base station receives an HARQ ACK feedback or anRRC response message transmitted by the UE for the signaling as theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode; or if the signaling is physical layer signaling, to determine asub-frame carrying the physical layer signaling as the instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; or todetermine the instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node, according to an instance of time when the UEtransmits the higher-layer signaling, and an enabling instance of timeprescribed between the macro base station and the UE; or to determinethe instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node, according to a current System Frame Number (SFN),sub-frame number and offset, and a change cycle corresponding to eachuplink transmitting node.

Furthermore if the second determining module determines the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node,according to the instance of time when the macro base station transmitsthe signaling, and the enabling instance of time prescribed between themacro base station and the UE, then the receiving module is configuredto receive the uplink information transmitted by the UE through a lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node; or to terminate uplink/downlinkscheduling for the UE, after the currently determined uplinktransmitting node is signaled to the UE and before the instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives; andif the second determining module determines the instance of time whenthe macro base station receives the HARQ ACK feedback or the RRCresponse message transmitted by the UE for the signaling as the instanceof time to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node,then the receiving module is configured to detect the uplink informationtransmitted by the UE respectively through a lastly determined uplinktransmitting node and the currently determined uplink transmitting node;or to terminate uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE, after thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node is signaled to the UE andbefore the instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node arrives.

Based upon the same inventive idea as the method, an embodiment of theinvention provides another macro base station including a processor anda radio frequency device wherein:

the processor is configured to determine from transmitting nodesconnected with a User Equipment (UE) an uplink transmitting node forcurrently receiving uplink information of the UE; and to determine aninstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode; and

the radio frequency device is configured to receive the uplinkinformation transmitted by the UE through the currently determineduplink transmitting node after the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node arrives.

With the embodiment of the invention, an appropriate uplink transmittingnode can be determined flexibly to transmit uplink information in aheterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden on the macro basestation, alleviate uplink interference between respective UEs, improvethe throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

An embodiment of the invention provides a UE including:

a first processing module configured to determine from transmittingnodes connected with the UE an uplink transmitting node to which uplinkinformation of the UE needs to be transmitted currently;

a second processing module configured to determine an instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; and

a transmitting module configured to transmit the uplink information tothe currently determined uplink transmitting node after the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting nodearrives.

With the embodiment of the invention, an appropriate uplink transmittingnode can be determined flexibly to transmit uplink information in aheterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden on the macro basestation, alleviate uplink interference between respective UEs, improvethe throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

Preferably the first processing module is configured: to select from thetransmitting nodes connected with the UE a transmitting node satisfyinga preset determination criterion as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node; or to determine a transmitting node serving a cellcorresponding to identifier information signaled by a macro base stationas the currently determined uplink transmitting node upon reception ofthe identifier information, wherein the identifier information includesidentifier information of one or more cells corresponding to the uplinktransmitting node selected by the macro base station for the UE; or todetermine the uplink transmitting node to currently receive the uplinkinformation of the UE, according to a rule prescribed between the UE andthe macro base station.

Preferably the first processing module is further configured to signalthe currently determined uplink transmitting node to the macro basestation in higher-layer signaling if it is determined that the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node is different from a lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node after the transmitting nodesatisfying the preset selection criterion is selected as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node and before the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node is determined,wherein the higher-layer signaling carries the identifier information ofthe one or more cells corresponding to the currently determined uplinktransmitting node.

Preferably the second processing module is configured to determine theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, according to an instance of time when the UE transmits thehigher-layer signaling, and an enabling instance of time prescribedbetween the UE and the macro base station; or to determine the instanceof time to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node,according to an instance of time when the macro base station transmitsthe signaling, and an enabling instance of time prescribed between theUE and the macro base station; or to determine an instance of time whenthe UE receives the identifier information transmitted by the macro basestation as the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node; or if the signaling transmitted by the macrobase station is physical layer signaling, to determine a sub-framecarrying the physical layer signaling as the instance of time to enablethe currently determined uplink transmitting node; or to determine theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, according to a current System Frame Number (SFN), sub-frame numberand offset, and a change cycle corresponding to the uplink transmittingnode.

Preferably the transmitting module is further configured to transmit theuplink information to a lastly determined uplink transmitting nodebefore the first determining module determines the uplink transmittingnode to currently transmit the uplink information and before theenabling instance of time determined by the second determining modulearrives.

Preferably the second processing module is further configured to performone or more of the following steps after the instance of time toenabling the currently determined uplink transmitting node isdetermined: to delete an uplink scheduling configuration, stored by theUE, corresponding to a lastly determined uplink transmitting node; tostore a value of TA of a cell or a TAG corresponding to the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node; to stop an SRS, a DSR and a CQIfrom being transmitted to the lastly determined uplink transmittingnode; to determine a value of TA of a cell corresponding to thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; and to delete an HARQbuffer, stored by the UE, of one or more cells corresponding to thelastly determined uplink transmitting node.

An embodiment of the invention provides another UE including a processorand a radio frequency device, wherein:

the processor is configured to determine from transmitting nodesconnected with the UE an uplink transmitting node to which uplinkinformation of the UE needs to be transmitted currently; and todetermine an instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node; and

the radio frequency device is configured to transmit the uplinkinformation to the currently determined uplink transmitting node afterthe instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node arrives.

With the embodiment of the invention, an appropriate uplink transmittingnode can be determined flexibly to transmit uplink information in aheterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden on the macro basestation, alleviate uplink interference between respective UEs, improvethe throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

An embodiment of the invention provides a communicating systemincluding:

a macro base station configured to determine from transmitting nodesconnected with a User Equipment (UE) an uplink transmitting node forcurrently receiving uplink information of the UE; to determine aninstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode; and to receive the uplink information transmitted by the UEthrough the currently determined uplink transmitting node after theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode arrives; and

the UE configured to determine from the transmitting nodes connectedwith the UE the uplink transmitting node to which uplink information ofthe UE needs to be transmitted currently; to determine the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; and totransmit the uplink information to the currently determined uplinktransmitting node after the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node arrives.

With the embodiment of the invention, an appropriate uplink transmittingnode can be determined flexibly to transmit uplink information in aheterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden on the macro basestation, alleviate uplink interference between respective UEs, improvethe throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic flow chart of a method for receivinguplink information according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic flow chart of a method for transmittinguplink information according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic flow chart of interaction between a macrobase station and a UE in a first scenario according to an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic flow chart of interaction between a macrobase station and a UE in a second scenario according to an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic flow chart of interaction between a macrobase station and a UE in a third scenario according to an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of a macro base station accordingto an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of another macro base stationaccording to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of a UE according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of another UE according to anembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communicating systemaccording to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

With the embodiments of the invention, an appropriate uplinktransmitting node can be determined flexibly to which uplink informationis transmitted in a heterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden on amacro eNB, alleviate uplink interference between respective UEs, improvethe throughput of a system, and save power of a UE.

The embodiments of the invention will be described below in details withreference to the drawings.

The uplink information in the embodiments of the invention includes butwill not be limited to one or more of the following information:

An SRS, a DSR and a CQI.

The transmitting node in the embodiments of the invention includes butwill not be limited to one or more of the following nodes:

A pico (low power) eNB, a femto (home) eNB, an RRH, a repeater, a RelayNode (RN), and a macro eNB.

An embodiment of the invention provides a method for receiving uplinkinformation, which is applicable to a scenario where a UE supports onlyuplink transmission to a single node, and referring to FIG. 1, themethod includes the following operations:

Step 11. A macro eNB determines from transmitting nodes connected with aUE an uplink transmitting node for currently receiving uplinkinformation of the UE;

Step 12. The macro eNB determines an instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; and

Step 13. The macro eNB receives the uplink information transmitted bythe UE through the currently determined uplink transmitting node afterthe instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node arrives.

In the embodiment of the invention, before the operation 11, the methodfurther includes:

The macro eNB determines that the UE supports uplink transmission to asingle node at a time, according to obtained capability information ofthe UE.

When the UE enters the RRC CONNECTED state from the RRC IDLE state, themacro eNB needs to obtain the capability information of the UE,including UE radio capability information and UE network capabilityinformation. The UE radio capability information includes power levels,frequency bandwidths, etc., supported by the UE, and the UE networkcapability information includes a support capability of the UE for asecurity algorithm, etc.

Furthermore the macro eNB transmits a capability query request to the UEvia an air interface; and accordingly the UE reports the capabilityinformation of the UE to the macro eNB upon reception of the capabilityquery request transmitted by the macro eNB; or the macro eNB transmits acapability query request to a Mobile Management Entity (MME); andaccordingly the MME returns the capability information of the UE to themacro eNB upon reception of the capability query request transmitted bythe macro eNB.

Furthermore the macro eNB can determine that the UE supports uplinktransmission to a single node at a time, in the following threeapproaches without any limitation thereto:

In a first approach, if the capability information of the UE carriesfirst indication information for indicating the number of RFs includedin the UE, and the first indication information indicates the number as1, then the macro eNB determines that the UE supports uplinktransmission to a single node at a time;

In a second approach, if the capability information of the UE carriessecond indication information for indicating whether the UE supportsMTA, and the second indication information indicates that the UE doesnot supports MTA, then the macro eNB determines that the UE supportsuplink transmission to a single node at a time; and

In a third approach, if the capability information of the UE carriesthird indication information for indicating whether the UE supportsuplink transmission to a single node at a time, and the third indicationinformation indicates that the UE supports uplink transmission to asingle node at a time, then the macro eNB determines that the UEsupports uplink transmission to a single node at a time.

The third indication information can be 1-bit data, for example, if thethird indication information is “1”, then it indicates that the UEsupports uplink transmission to a single node at a time; and if thethird indication information is “0”, then it indicates that the UE doesnot support uplink transmission to a single node at a time.

In this embodiment, the operation 11 can be further performed in thefollowing three approaches without any limitation thereto:

In an approach A1, the macro eNB selects an appropriate transmittingnode for the UE as the currently determined uplink transmitting node;and the operation 11 includes:

The macro eNB selects from the transmitting nodes connected with the UEa transmitting node satisfying a preset selection criterion as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore the selection criterion can include but will not be limitedto one or more of the following criterions:

The macro eNB determines distances between the UE and the respectivetransmitting nodes according to current location information of the UEand selects a transmitting node with the distance being the shortest orno more than a preset distance threshold as the currently determineduplink transmitting node, and the distance threshold is an empiricalvalue and can be determined as needed in practice;

The macro eNB selects a transmitting node corresponding to a cell with apath loss being the lowest or no more than a preset path loss thresholdas the currently determined uplink transmitting node according to pathloss information of the UE in respective cells, and the path lossthreshold is an empirical value and can be determined as needed inpractice;

The macro eNB selects a transmitting node corresponding to a cell with avalue of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) being the highest ormore than a preset RSRP threshold as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to reference signal reception conditions ofthe UE in respective cells, and the RSRP threshold is an empirical valueand can be determined as needed in practice;

The macro eNB selects a transmitting node corresponding to a cell with avalue of Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) being the highest ormore than a preset RSRQ threshold as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to reference signal reception conditions ofthe UE in respective cells, and the RSRQ threshold is an empirical valueand can be determined as needed in practice;

The macro eNB selects a transmitting node corresponding to a cell with avalue of CQI being the highest or more than a preset CQI threshold asthe currently determined uplink transmitting node according to referencesignal reception conditions of the UE in respective cells, and the CQIthreshold is an empirical value and can be determined as needed inpractice; and

The macro eNB selects a transmitting node corresponding to a cell with avalue of SRS reception quality being the highest or more than a presetSRS threshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeaccording to reception qualities of the SRSs transmitted by the UE inrespective cells, and the SRS threshold is an empirical value and can bedetermined as needed in practice.

Furthermore in this approach, after the operation 11 and the before theoperation 12, the method according to the embodiment of the inventionfurther includes:

The macro eNB signals the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeto the UE through signaling upon determining that the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node is different from a lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node, and the signaling carries theidentifier information of the one or more cells corresponding to thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node.

Preferably the signaling transmitted by the macro eNB includes RadioResource Control (RRC) signaling, Media Access Control (MAC) signalingor physical layer signaling, and the physical layer signaling includes aPhysical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), an Evolved-PDCCH (E-PDCCH),or a Relay-PDCCH (R-PDCCH), etc.

Preferably the identifier information of the cell can be an index numberof the cell or can be a combination of a downlink (DL) frequency and aPhysical Cell Identifier (PCI) or can be an E-UTRAN Cell GlobalIdentifier (ECGI).

Furthermore if the macro eNB signals the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the UE in MAC signaling, then a dedicated LogicalChannel Identifier (LCID) also needs to be introduced to the MACsignaling to indicate that the MAC signaling is used for indicating tothe UE a transmitting node or a cell for uplink transmission.

Furthermore if the macro eNB signals the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the UE in physical layer signaling, then there aretwo approaches to indicate the currently determined uplink transmittingnode explicitly and implicitly:

In a first approach, the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeis indicated explicitly as follows:

The macro eNB carries the identifier information of the one or morecells of the currently determined uplink transmitting node in thephysical layer signaling.

In a second approach, the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeis indicated implicitly as follows:

At a specified instance of time, if there is a demand for uplinktransmission over any of component carriers aggregated for the UE, thenthe macro eNB determines a transmitting node serving the componentcarrier, over which there is the demand for uplink transmission, as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node.

For example, there are two UL Component Carriers (CCs), i.e., CC1 andCC2, aggregated for the UE; and if there is a demand for uplinktransmission (e.g., a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a PhysicalUplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or an SRS) over the CC1 at an instance oftime T1, then a transmitting node corresponding to the CC1 is selectedas the currently determined uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore when the currently determined uplink transmitting node isindicated implicitly, the macro eNB needs to ensure that there is noconfliction in time between transmissions of PUCCHs, PUSCHs and SRSs ina plurality of cells corresponding to different uplink transmittingnodes.

Furthermore in this approach, if the signaling transmitted by the macroeNB is RRC signaling, then the macro eNB can determine the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node in theoperation 12 in one of the following approaches without any limitationthereto:

In a first approach, the macro eNB determines the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, according toan instance of time when the signaling is transmitted, and an enablinginstance of time prescribed between the macro eNB and the UE;

Furthermore after the macro eNB signals the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the UE and before the preset enabling instance oftime arrives, the method according to the embodiment of the inventionfurther includes:

The macro eNB receives the uplink information transmitted by the UEthrough the lastly determined uplink transmitting node; or the macro eNBterminates uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE (except a UL grant inwhich an RRC response message is transmitted).

Accordingly the UE transmits the uplink information to the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node after the UE receives the identifierinformation, of the currently determined uplink transmitting node,transmitted by the macro eNB and before the preset instance of timearrives.

In a second approach, the macro eNB determines an instance of time whenthe macro eNB receives an HARQ ACK feedback or an RRC response messagetransmitted by the UE for the signaling as the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node;

Furthermore the macro eNB determines the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node as follows:

The macro eNB determines that the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node arrives, upon reception ofthe RRC response message on the currently determined uplink transmittingnode.

Furthermore after the macro eNB signals the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the UE and before the preset enabling instance oftime arrives, the method according to the embodiment of the inventionfurther includes:

The macro eNB detects the uplink information transmitted by the UErespectively through the lastly determined uplink transmitting node andthe currently determined uplink transmitting node; or the macro eNBterminates uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE (except a UL grant inwhich the RRC response message is transmitted).

Accordingly the UE transmits the uplink information to the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node before the UE receives theidentifier information, of the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, transmitted by the macro eNB; and transmits the uplink informationto the currently determined uplink transmitting node after the UEreceives the identifier information, of the currently determined uplinktransmitting node, transmitted by the macro eNB.

Furthermore in this approach, if the signaling transmitted by the macroeNB is MAC signaling, then the macro eNB can determine the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node in theoperation 12 in one of the following approaches without any limitationthereto:

In a first approach, the macro eNB determines the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, according toan instance of time when the signaling is transmitted, and an enablinginstance of time prescribed between the macro eNB and the UE;

Furthermore after the macro eNB signals the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the UE and before the preset enabling instance oftime arrives, the method according to the embodiment of the inventionfurther includes:

The macro eNB receives the uplink information transmitted by the UEthrough the lastly determined uplink transmitting node; or the macro eNBterminates uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE.

Accordingly the UE transmits the uplink information to the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node after the UE receives the identifierinformation, of the currently determined uplink transmitting node,transmitted by the macro eNB and before the preset instance of timearrives.

In a second approach, the macro eNB determines an instance of time whenthe macro eNB receives an HARQ ACK feedback or an RRC response messagetransmitted by the UE for the signaling as the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node;

Furthermore after the macro eNB signals the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the UE and before the instance of time to enablethe currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives, the methodaccording to the embodiment of the invention further includes:

The macro eNB detects the uplink information transmitted by the UErespectively through the lastly determined uplink transmitting node andthe currently determined uplink transmitting node; or the macro eNBterminates uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE.

Accordingly the UE transmits the uplink information to the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node before the UE receives theidentifier information, of the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, transmitted by the macro eNB; and transmits the uplink informationto the currently determined uplink transmitting node after the UEreceives the identifier information, of the currently determined uplinktransmitting node, transmitted by the macro eNB.

Furthermore in this approach, if the signaling transmitted by the macroeNB is physical layer signaling, then the macro eNB can determine theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode in the operation 12 in the following approach without anylimitation thereto:

The macro eNB determines a sub-frame carrying the physical layersignaling as the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node, that is, the current sub-frame is enabled.

It shall be noted that in order to avoid inconsistent understandingbetween the macro eNB and the UE due to a loss of the physical layersignaling, the macro eNB receives the uplink information concurrentlythrough the currently determined uplink transmitting node and the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node before the macro eNB receives an ACKfeedback.

In an approach B1, the UE selects an appropriate transmitting node foritself as the currently determined uplink transmitting node, and herethe step 11 further includes:

The macro eNB determines a transmitting node serving a cellcorresponding to identifier information transmitted by the UE inhigher-layer signaling as the currently determined uplink transmittingnode upon reception of the identifier information, and the identifierinformation includes identifier information of one or more cellscorresponding to the uplink transmitting node selected by the UE for theUE itself

Preferably the identifier information of the cell can be an index numberof the cell or can be a combination of a downlink frequency and a PCI orcan be an ECGI.

Furthermore in this approach, if the higher-layer signaling transmittedby the UE is RRC signaling, then the macro eNB determines the instanceof time to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node inthe operation 12 particularly as follows:

The macro eNB determines the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node, according to an instance of timewhen the UE transmits the higher-layer signaling, and an enablinginstance of time prescribed between the macro eNB and the UE.

Furthermore after the macro eNB receives the identifier information, ofthe currently determined uplink transmitting node, transmitted by the UEand before the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node arrives, the method according to the embodimentof the invention further includes:

The macro eNB receives the uplink information transmitted by the UEthrough the lastly determined uplink transmitting node; or the macro eNBterminates uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE.

Accordingly the UE transmits the uplink information to the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node after the UE transmits theidentifier information of the currently determined uplink transmittingnode to the macro eNB and before the preset instance of time arrives.

Furthermore in this approach, if the higher-layer signaling transmittedby the UE is MAC signaling, then the macro eNB determines the instanceof time to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node inthe operation 12 particularly as follows:

The macro eNB determines the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node, according to an instance of timewhen the UE transmits the higher-layer signaling, and an enablinginstance of time prescribed between the macro eNB and the UE.

Furthermore after the macro eNB receives the identifier information, ofthe currently determined uplink transmitting node, transmitted by the UEand before the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node arrives, the method according to the embodimentof the invention further includes:

The macro eNB receives the uplink information transmitted by the UEthrough the lastly determined uplink transmitting node; or the macro eNBterminates uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE.

Accordingly the UE transmits the uplink information to the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node after the UE transmits theidentifier information of the currently determined uplink transmittingnode to the macro eNB and before the preset instance of time arrives.

In an approach C1, the macro eNB determines the uplink transmitting nodefor currently receiving the uplink information, according to a ruleprescribed between the macro eNB and the UE;

The prescribed rule in the embodiment of the invention can include butwill not be limited to such a rule that a different transmitting node isselected in each preset change cycle as an uplink transmitting nodedetermined each time.

The change cycles and offsets of the different UEs are configured by themacro eNB or prescribed between the macro eNB and the respective UEs.

Furthermore the macro eNB determines the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node in the operation 12particularly as follows:

The macro eNB determines the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node, according to a current System FrameNumber (SFN), sub-frame number and offset, and a change cyclecorresponding to each uplink transmitting node.

The change cycle corresponding to each uplink transmitting node may bethe same or may be different.

For example, the macro eNB determines an instance of time when thecurrent SFN and sub-frame number satisfy Equation 1 as the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, thatis, the uplink transmitting node is switched at that instance of time:

[(SFN*10)+sub-frame number]modulo(Cycle)=(Offset)modulo(Cycle)  Equation1;

(A) modulo (B) represents a modular operation of A on B.

Further to the embodiment above, an embodiment of the invention furtherprovides a method for transmitting uplink information, which isapplicable to a scenario where a UE supports only uplink transmission toa single node, and referring to FIG. 2, the method includes:

Operation 21. A UE determines from transmitting nodes connectedtherewith an uplink transmitting node to which uplink information of theUE needs to be transmitted currently;

Operation 22. The UE determines an instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; and

Operation 23. The UE transmits the uplink information to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node after the instance of time to enablethe currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives.

Furthermore the UE can determine the uplink transmitting node to whichthe uplink information of the UE needs to be transmitted currently inthe following three approaches:

In an approach A2, the macro eNB selects an appropriate transmittingnode for the UE as the currently determined uplink transmitting node;and here the operation 21 includes:

The UE determines a transmitting node serving a cell corresponding toidentifier information signaled by the macro eNB as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node upon reception of the identifierinformation, and the identifier information includes identifierinformation of one or more cells of the transmitting node selected bythe macro eNB for the UE.

Furthermore the UE determines the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node in the operation 22 asfollows:

The UE determines the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node, according to an instance of timewhen the macro eNB transmits the signaling, and an enabling instance oftime prescribed between the UE and the macro eNB; or

The UE determines an instance of time when the UE receives theidentifier information transmitted by the macro eNB as the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; or

If the signaling transmitted by the macro eNB is physical layersignaling, then the UE determines a sub-frame carrying the physicallayer signaling as the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore after the UE determines the uplink transmitting node towhich the uplink information of the UE needs to be transmitted currentlyand before the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node arrives, the method according to the embodimentof the invention further includes:

The UE transmits the uplink information to a lastly determined uplinktransmitting node.

Since this approach corresponds to the approach A1 above, reference canbe made to the particular implementation of the approach A1, so arepeated description thereof will be omitted here.

In a second approach B2, the UE selects an appropriate transmitting nodefor the UE as the currently determined uplink transmitting node, andhere the operation 22 includes:

The UE selects from the transmitting nodes connected therewith atransmitting node satisfying a preset determination criterion as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore the determination criterion can include but will not belimited to one or more of the following criterions:

The UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of RSRP being the highest or more than a preset RSRPthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells, and theRSRP threshold is an empirical value and can be determined as needed inpractice;

The UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of RSRQ being the highest or more than a preset RSRQthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells, and theRSRQ threshold is an empirical value and can be determined as needed inpractice;

The UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of CQI being the highest or more than a preset CQIthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells, and theCQI threshold is an empirical value and can be determined as needed inpractice;

The UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of path loss being the lowest or no more than a presetpath loss threshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeaccording to measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells,and the path loss threshold is an empirical value and can be determinedas needed in practice; and

The UE determines distances between the UE and the respectivetransmitting nodes according to current location information of the UEand selects a transmitting node with the distance being the shortest orno more than a preset distance threshold as the currently determineduplink transmitting node, and the distance threshold is an empiricalvalue and can be determined as needed in practice. Here this approachrequires the UE to obtain deployment information of the macro eNB andlocal nodes (RRHs/repeaters, etc.), and the deployment information canbe signaled by the macro eNB to the UE.

Furthermore in this approach, after the operation 21 and before theoperation 22, the method according to the embodiment of the inventionfurther includes:

The UE signals the currently determined uplink transmitting node to themacro eNB in higher-layer signaling upon determining that the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node is different from the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node, and the higher-layer signalingcarries the identifier information of the one or more cellscorresponding to the currently determined uplink transmitting node.

Preferably the higher-layer signaling transmitted by the UE includes RRCsignaling or MAC signaling.

Preferably the identifier information of the cell in the embodiment ofthe invention includes an index number of the cell; or can a combinationof a Downlink (DL) frequency and a PCI; or can be an ECGI.

Furthermore if the UE signals the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the macro eNB in MAC signaling, then a dedicatedLCID also needs to be introduced to the MAC signaling to indicate thatthe MAC signaling is used for indicating to the macro eNB a transmissionnode or a cell for uplink transmission.

Furthermore in this approach, the UE determines the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node particularly asfollows:

The UE determines the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node, according to an instance of timewhen the UE transmits the higher-layer signaling, and an enablinginstance of time prescribed between the UE and the macro eNB.

Furthermore after the operation 21 and before the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives, themethod according to the embodiment of the invention further includes:

The UE transmits the uplink information to the lastly determined uplinktransmitting node.

In an approach C2, the UE determines the uplink transmitting node tocurrently transmit the uplink information, according to a ruleprescribed between the UE and the macro eNB;

The prescribed rule in the embodiment of the invention can include butwill not be limited to such a rule that a different transmitting node isselected in each preset change cycle as an uplink transmitting nodedetermined each time.

The change cycles and offsets of the different UEs are configured by themacro eNB or prescribed between the macro eNB and the respective UEs.

Furthermore the UE determines the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node in the operation 22particularly as follows:

The UE determines the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node, according to a current System FrameNumber (SFN), sub-frame number and offset, and a change cyclecorresponding to each uplink transmitting node.

For example, the UE determines an instance of time when the current SFNand sub-frame number satisfy Equation 1 as the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, that is, theuplink transmitting node is switched at that instance time.

In the approach C1 and the approach C2, since the macro eNB and the UEdetermine the currently determined uplink transmitting node according tothe prescribed rule, there will be no signaling interaction between themacro eNB and the UE to thereby save an overhead of system signaling.

In the embodiment of the invention, the operation 23 includes:

The UE transmits the uplink information over an uplink carriercorresponding to the currently determined uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore if a plurality of component carriers among the carriersaggregated for the UE are configured with PUCCHs, then the UE transmitsthe uplink information over the uplink carrier corresponding to thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node as follows:

The UE transmits the uplink information over a component carrier servedby the currently determined uplink transmitting node and configured witha PUCCH.

In the embodiment of the invention, after the operation 22, the methodfurther includes one or more of the following operations:

The UE deletes an uplink scheduling configuration, stored by the UE,corresponding to the lastly determined uplink transmitting node;

The UE stores a value of Timing Advance (TA) of a cell or a TimingAdvance Group (TAG) corresponding to the lastly determined uplinktransmitting node;

The UE stops an SRS, a DSR and a CQI from being transmitted to thelastly determined uplink transmitting node;

The UE determines a value of TA of the cell corresponding to thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; and

The UE deletes a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) buffer, storedby the UE, of the cell corresponding to the lastly determined uplinktransmitting node.

It shall be noted that the embodiment of the invention will not belimited to any order in which the five operations above are performed.

Furthermore the UE can determine the value of TA of the cellcorresponding to the currently determined uplink transmitting node inthe following two approaches:

In a first approach, after the UE determines the uplink transmittingnode to which the uplink information of the UE needs to be transmittedcurrently, the UE determines the value of TA of the cell correspondingto the currently determined uplink transmitting node according to areceived Timing Advance Command (TAC) MAC Control Element (CE)transmitted by the macro eNB, and the value of TA, stored by the UE, ofthe cell or the TAG corresponding to the lastly determined uplinktransmitting node;

In this approach, when the uplink transmitting node is changed, the UEstores the value of TA of the cell or the TAG corresponding to thepreviously determined uplink transmitting node without handling a TimingAdvance Timer (TAT) corresponding to the respective cell or TAG; and

In a second approach, after the UE determines the uplink transmittingnode to which the uplink information of the UE needs to be transmittedcurrently, the UE obtains the value of TA of the cell corresponding tothe currently determined uplink transmitting node in a Random Access(RA) procedure;

In this approach, the UE stores only the value of TA of the cell or theTAG corresponding to the currently determined uplink transmitting nodewithout storing the value of TA of the cell or the TAG corresponding tothe lastly determined uplink transmitting node, and a TAT of the cell orthe TAG corresponding to the lastly determined uplink transmitting nodewill be stopped from operating once the uplink transmitting node ischanged.

Preferably after the operation 22, the method according to theembodiment of the invention further includes:

The UE releases an SRS and/or PUCCH configuration corresponding to thelastly determined uplink transmitting node.

The invention will be described below in connection with particularembodiments thereof in different scenarios.

In a first embodiment, a macro eNB selects an appropriate uplinktransmitting node for the UE, and referring to FIG. 3, a method fortransmitting uplink information according to this embodiment includesthe following operations:

Operation 31. A macro eNB obtains capability information of a UE anddetermines that the UE supports only uplink transmission to a singlenode at a time, according to the obtained capability information;

Operation 32. The macro eNB selects an uplink transmitting node for theUE to be currently used for transmission, according to a presetselection criterion;

Operation 33. The macro eNB signals the newly selected uplinktransmitting node to the UE;

Operation 34 a. The UE determines an instance of time to enable thenewly selected uplink transmitting node;

Operation 34 b. The macro NB determines an instance of time to enablethe newly selected uplink transmitting node; and

Operation 35. The UE transmits uplink information with the uplinktransmitting node indicated by the macro eNB.

Furthermore the UE further performs one or more of the following actionsaccording to the uplink transmitting node indicated by the macro eNB inthe operation 33, and the instance of time, to enable the uplinktransmitting node, determined in the operation 34 a, after the newlyconfigured uplink transmitting node is enabled:

The UE clears a HARQ buffer corresponding to a cell corresponding to anold uplink transmitting node;

The UE clears a configured UL grant corresponding to the old uplinktransmitting node;

The UE stops an SRS, a DSR and a CQ from being transmitted with the olduplink transmitting node; and furthermore the UE can further release anSRS/PUCCH configuration corresponding to the old uplink transmittingnode;

The UE maintains a value of TA of a cell or a TAG corresponding to theold transmitting node; and

The UE determines a value of TA of a cell corresponding to the newuplink transmitting node.

In this embodiment, the operation 34 a and the operation 34 b may not beperformed in any particular order, and here firstly the operation 34 aand then the operation 34 b can be performed; or firstly the operation34 b and then the operation 34 a can be performed; or both the operation34 a and the operation 34 b can be performed at the same time.

In a second embodiment, a UE selects an appropriate uplink transmittingnode for the UE, and referring to FIG. 4, a method for transmittinguplink information according to this embodiment includes the followingsteps:

Operation 41. A macro eNB determines that a UE supports only uplinktransmission to a single node at a time, according to capabilityinformation of the UE reported by the UE;

Operation 42. The macro eNB selects a serving cell for the UE;

The macro eNB can select the serving cell for the UE according to one ormore of the following information:

A measurement result reported by the UE, including one or more of RSRP,an RSRQ and a CQI;

Location information of the UE reported by the UE;

The capability information of the UE reported by the UE, e.g., acombination of bands supportable by the UE; and

Loads and interference conditions of respective cells served by themacro eNB;

Operation 43. The macro eNB signals the serving cell configured for theUE to the UE;

Since a PCell has been selected when an RRC connection is set up or whenthe transmitting node is switched, only configured SCells will besignaled here;

Operation 44. The UE selects a new uplink transmitting node for the UEaccording to a preset determination criterion;

Operation 45. The UE reports the new uplink transmitting node selectedby the UE to the macro eNB;

Operation 46 a. The UE determines an instance of time to enable thenewly selected uplink transmitting node;

Operation 46 b. The macro eNB determines an instance of time to enablethe newly selected uplink transmitting node; and

Operation 47. The UE performs uplink transmission with the new uplinktransmitting node selected by the UE.

Furthermore the UE further performs one or more of the following actionsaccording to the uplink transmitting node selected by the UE in theoperation 44, and the instance of time, to enable the uplinktransmitting node, determined in the operation 46 a, after the newlyconfigured uplink transmitting node is enabled:

The UE clears a HARQ buffer corresponding to a cell corresponding to anold uplink transmitting node;

The UE clears a configured UL grant corresponding to the old uplinktransmitting node;

The UE stops an SRS, a DSR and a CQI from being transmitted with the olduplink transmitting node; and furthermore the UE can further release anSRS/PUCCH configuration corresponding to the old uplink transmittingnode;

The UE maintains a value of TA of a cell or a TAG corresponding to theold transmitting node; and

The UE determines a value of TA of a cell corresponding to the newuplink transmitting node.

In this embodiment, the operation 46 a and the operation 46 b may not beperformed in any particular order, and here firstly the operation 46 aand then the operation 46 b can be performed; or firstly the operation46 b and then the operation 46 a can be performed; or both the operation46 a and the operation 46 b can be performed at the same time.

In a third embodiment, a UE selects an appropriate uplink transmittingnode for the UE, and referring to FIG. 5, a method for transmittinguplink information according to this embodiment includes the followingoperations:

Operation 51. A macro eNB determines that a UE supports only uplinktransmission to a single node at a time, according to capabilityinformation of the UE reported by the UE;

Operation 52. The macro eNB selects a serving cell for the UE;

Here the macro eNB can select the serving cell for the UE according toone or more of the following information:

A measurement result reported by the UE, including one or more of RSRP,an RSRQ and a CQI;

Location information of the UE reported by the UE;

The capability information of the UE reported by the UE, e.g., acombination of bands supportable by the UE; and

Loads and interference conditions of respective cells served by themacro eNB;

Operation 53. The macro eNB signals the serving cell configured for theUE to the UE;

Since a PCell has been selected when an RRC connection is set up or whenthe transmitting node is switched, only configured SCells will besignaled here;

Operation 54 a. The UE selects a new uplink transmitting node accordingto a preset prescribed rule;

Operation 54 b. The macro eNB selects a new uplink transmitting nodeaccording to the prescribed rule;

Operation 55 a. The UE determines an instance of time to enable thenewly selected uplink transmitting node;

Operation 55 b. The macro eNB determines an instance of time to enablethe newly selected uplink transmitting node; and

Operation 56. The UE performs uplink transmission with the newlyselected uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore the UE further performs one or more of the following actionsaccording to the uplink transmitting node selected by the UE in theoperation 54 a, and the instance of time, to enable the uplinktransmitting node, determined in the operation 55 a, after the newlyconfigured uplink transmitting node is enabled:

The UE clears a HARQ buffer corresponding to a cell corresponding to anold uplink transmitting node;

The UE clears a configured UL grant corresponding to the old uplinktransmitting node;

The UE stops an SRS, a DSR and a CQ from being transmitted with the olduplink transmitting node; and furthermore the UE can further release anSRS/PUCCH configuration corresponding to the old uplink transmittingnode;

The UE maintains a value of TA of a cell or a TAG corresponding to theold transmitting node; and

The UE determines a value of TA of a cell corresponding to the newuplink transmitting node.

In this embodiment, the operation 54 a and the operation 54 b may not beperformed in any particular order, and here firstly the operation 54 aand then the operation 54 b can be performed; or firstly the operation54 b and then the operation 54 a can be performed; or both the operation54 a and the operation 54 b can be performed at the same time; and

The operation 55 a and the operation 55 b may not be performed in anyparticular order, and here firstly the operation 55 a and then theoperation 55 b can be performed; or firstly the operation 55 b and thenthe operation 55 a can be performed; or both the operation 55 a and theoperation 55 b can be performed at the same time.

The processing flows of the methods above can be performed in softwareprogram which can be stored in a storage medium, and the stored softwareprogram can perform the operations of the method above upon beinginvoked.

Based upon the same inventive idea, an embodiment of the inventionfurther provides a macro eNB, and since the macro eNB addresses theproblem under a similar principle to the method for receiving uplinkinformation illustrated in FIG. 1, reference can be made to theimplementation of the method illustrated in FIG. 1, so a repeateddescription thereof will be omitted here.

Referring to FIG. 6, a macro eNB according to an embodiment of theinvention includes:

A first determining module 61 is configured to determine fromtransmitting nodes connected with a UE an uplink transmitting node forcurrently receiving uplink information of the UE;

A second determining module 62 is configured to determine an instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; and

A receiving module 63 is configured to receive the uplink informationtransmitted by the UE through the currently determined uplinktransmitting node after the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node arrives.

Furthermore the first determining module 61 is configured:

To select from the transmitting nodes connected with the UE atransmitting node satisfying a preset selection criterion as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; or

To determine a transmitting node serving a cell corresponding toidentifier information transmitted by the UE in higher-layer signalingas the currently determined uplink transmitting node upon reception ofthe identifier information, and the identifier information includesidentifier information of one or more cells corresponding to the uplinktransmitting node selected by the UE for itself; or

To determine the uplink transmitting node for currently receiving theuplink information of the UE, according to a rule prescribed between themacro eNB and the UE.

In the embodiment of the invention, the selection criterion includes oneor more of the following criterions:

Distances between the UE and the respective transmitting nodes aredetermined according to current location information of the UE, and atransmitting node with the distance being the shortest or no more than apreset distance threshold is selected as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node;

A transmitting node corresponding to a cell with a path loss being thelowest or no more than a preset path loss threshold is selected as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node according to path lossinformation of the UE in respective cells;

A transmitting node corresponding to a cell with a value of ReferenceSignal Received Power (RSRP) being the highest or more than a presetRSRP threshold is selected as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to reference signal reception conditions ofthe UE in respective cells;

A transmitting node corresponding to a cell with a value of ReferenceSignal Received Quality (RSRQ) being the highest or more than a presetRSRQ threshold is selected as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to reference signal reception conditions ofthe UE in respective cells;

a transmitting node corresponding to a cell with a value of CQI beingthe highest or more than a preset CQI threshold is selected as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node according to referencesignal reception conditions of the UE in respective cells; and

A transmitting node corresponding to a cell with a value of SoundingReference Signal (SRS) reception quality being the highest or more thana preset SRS threshold is selected as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to reception qualities of the SRSstransmitted by the UE in respective cells.

In the embodiment of the invention, the prescribed rule includes such arule that a different transmitting node is selected in each presetchange cycle as an uplink transmitting node determined each time.

Preferably the change cycles and offsets of different UEs are configuredby the macro eNB or prescribed between the macro eNB and the respectiveUEs.

Furthermore the first determining module 61 is further configured:

To signal the currently determined uplink transmitting node to the UE ifit is determined that the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeis different from a lastly determined uplink transmitting node after thetransmitting node satisfying the preset selection criterion is selectedas the currently determined uplink transmitting node and before theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode is determined, where the signaling carries the identifierinformation of the one or more cells corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node.

Preferably the identifier information is an index number of the cell; orthe identifier information is a combination of a downlink (DL) frequencyand a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI); or the identifier information isan ECGI.

Furthermore the second determining module 62 is configured:

To determine the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node, according to an instance of time when themacro eNB transmits the signaling, and an enabling instance of timeprescribed between the macro eNB and the UE; or

To determine an instance of time when the macro eNB receives an HARQ ACKfeedback or an RRC response message transmitted by the UE for thesignaling as the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node; or

If the signaling transmitted by the macro eNB is physical layersignaling, to determine a sub-frame carrying the physical layersignaling as the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node; or

To determine the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node, according to an instance of time when the UEtransmits the higher-layer signaling, and an enabling instance of timeprescribed between the macro eNB and the UE; or

To determine the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node, according to a current System Frame Number(SFN), sub-frame number and offset, and a change cycle corresponding toeach uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore the second determining module 62 is configured:

If the enabling instance of time is an instance of time when the UEreceives the identifier information transmitted by the macro eNB, todetermine that the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node arrives, after the RRC response message or theacknowledgement ACK feedback is received on the currently determineduplink transmitting node.

Furthermore if the second determining module 62 determines the instanceof time to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node,according to the instance of time when the macro eNB transmits thesignaling, and the enabling instance of time prescribed between themacro eNB and the UE, then accordingly the receiving module 63 isconfigured to receive the uplink information transmitted by the UEthrough a lastly determined uplink transmitting node; or to terminateuplink/downlink scheduling for the UE, after the currently determineduplink transmitting node is signaled to the UE and before the instanceof time to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting nodearrives; and

If the second determining module 62 determines the instance of time whenthe macro eNB receives the HARQ ACK feedback or the RRC response messagetransmitted by the UE for the signaling as the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, thenaccordingly the receiving module 63 is configured to detect the uplinkinformation transmitted by the UE respectively through a lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node and the currently determined uplinktransmitting node; or to terminate uplink/downlink scheduling for theUE, after the currently determined uplink transmitting node is signaledto the UE and before the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node arrives.

Based upon the same inventive idea as the method, an embodiment of theinvention further provides another macro eNB, as illustrated in FIG. 7,including a processor 71 and a radio frequency device 72, where:

The processor 71 is configured to determine from transmitting nodesconnected with a UE an uplink transmitting node for currently receivinguplink information of the UE; and to determine an instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; and

The radio frequency device 72 is configured to receive the uplinkinformation transmitted by the UE through the currently determineduplink transmitting node after the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node arrives.

With the embodiments of the invention, an appropriate uplinktransmitting node can be determined flexibly to transmit uplinkinformation in the heterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden onthe macro eNB, alleviate uplink interference between the respective UEs,improve the throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

Based upon the same inventive idea, an embodiment of the inventionfurther provides a UE, and since the UE addresses the problem under asimilar principle to the method for transmitting uplink informationillustrated in FIG. 2, reference can be made to the implementation ofthe method illustrated in FIG. 2, so a repeated description thereof willbe omitted here.

Referring to FIG. 8, a UE according to an embodiment of the inventionincludes:

A first processing module 81 is configured to determine fromtransmitting nodes connected with the UE an uplink transmitting node towhich uplink information of the UE needs to be transmitted currently;

A second processing module 82 is configured to determine an instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; and

A transmitting module 83 is configured to transmit the uplinkinformation to the currently determined uplink transmitting node afterthe instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node arrives.

Furthermore the first processing module 81 is configured:

To select from the transmitting nodes connected with the UE atransmitting node satisfying a preset determination criterion as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; or

To determine a transmitting node serving a cell corresponding toidentifier information signaled by a macro eNB as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node upon reception of the identifierinformation, where the identifier information includes identifierinformation of one or more cells corresponding to the uplinktransmitting node selected by the macro eNB for the UE; or

To determine the uplink transmitting node to which the uplinkinformation of the UE needs to be transmitted currently, according to arule prescribed between the UE and the macro eNB.

In the embodiment of the invention, the selection criterion includes oneor more of the following criterions:

The UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of RSRP being the highest or more than a preset RSRPthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells;

The UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of RSRQ being the highest or more than a preset RSRQthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells;

The UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of CQI being the highest or more than a preset CQIthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto measurement results of the UE for respective serving cells;

The UE selects an uplink transmitting node corresponding to a servingcell with a value of path loss being the lowest as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node according to measurement results ofthe UE for respective serving cells; and

The UE determines distances between the UE and the respectivetransmitting nodes according to current location information of the UEand selects a transmitting node with the distance being the shortest asthe currently determined uplink transmitting node.

In the embodiment of the invention, the prescribed rule includes such arule that a different transmitting node is selected in each presetchange cycle as an uplink transmitting node determined each time.

Preferably the change cycles and offsets of different UEs are configuredby the macro eNB or prescribed between the macro eNB and the respectiveUEs.

Furthermore the first processing module 81 is further configured:

To signal the currently determined uplink transmitting node to the macroeNB in higher-layer signaling if it is determined that the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node is different from a lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node after the transmitting nodesatisfying the preset determination criterion is selected as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node and before the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node isdetermined, where the higher-layer signaling carries the identifierinformation of the one or more cells corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node.

Preferably the identifier information is an index number of the cell; orthe identifier information is a combination of a downlink (DL) frequencyand a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI); or the identifier information isan ECGI.

Furthermore the second processing module 82 is configured:

To determine the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node, according to an instance of time when the UEtransmits the higher-layer signaling, and an enabling instance of timeprescribed between the UE and the macro eNB; or

To determine the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node, according to an instance of time when themacro eNB transmits the signaling, and an enabling instance of timeprescribed between the UE and the macro eNB; or

To determine an instance of time when the UE receives the identifierinformation transmitted by the macro eNB as the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; or

If the signaling transmitted by the macro eNB is physical layersignaling, to determine a sub-frame carrying the physical layersignaling as the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node; or

To determine the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node, according to a current System Frame Number(SFN), sub-frame number and offset, and a change cycle corresponding toeach uplink transmitting node.

Furthermore the transmitting module 83 is further configured to transmitthe uplink information to a lastly determined uplink transmitting nodebefore the first processing module 71 determines the uplink transmittingnode to which the uplink information of the UE needs to be transmittedcurrently and before the enabling instance of time determined by thesecond determining module 82 arrives.

Furthermore the transmitting module 83 is configured to transmit theuplink information over an uplink carrier corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node.

Preferably the transmitting module 83 is further configured to transmitthe uplink information over a component carrier served by the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node and configured with a PhysicalUplink Control Channel (PUCCH) if a plurality of component carriersamong the carriers aggregated for the UE are configured with PUCCHs.

Furthermore the second processing module 82 is further configured toperform one or more of the following operations after the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node isdetermined.

To delete an uplink scheduling configuration, stored by the UE,corresponding to the lastly determined uplink transmitting node;

To store a value of TA of a cell or a TAG corresponding to the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node;

To stop an SRS, a DSR and a CQI from being transmitted to the lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node;

To determine a value of TA of the cell corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node; and

To delete a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) buffer, stored by theUE, of the cell corresponding to the lastly determined uplinktransmitting node.

Furthermore the transmitting module 83 is configured:

To determine the value of TA of the cell corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node according to a received TAC MAC CEtransmitted by the macro eNB, and the value of TA, stored by the UE, ofthe cell or the TAG corresponding to the lastly determined uplinktransmitting node after the uplink transmitting node to currentlytransmit the uplink information is determined; or

To obtain the value of TA of the cell corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node in a Random Access (RA) procedureafter the uplink transmitting node to currently transmit the uplinkinformation is determined

An embodiment of the invention provides another UE, as illustrated inFIG. 9, including a processor 91 and a radio frequency device 92, where:

The processor 91 is configured to determine from transmitting nodesconnected with the UE an uplink transmitting node to which uplinkinformation of the UE needs to be transmitted currently; and todetermine an instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node; and

The radio frequency device 92 is configured to transmit the uplinkinformation to the currently determined uplink transmitting node afterthe instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node arrives.

With the embodiments of the invention, an appropriate uplinktransmitting node can be determined flexibly to transmit uplinkinformation in the heterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden onthe macro eNB, alleviate uplink interference between the respective UEs,improve the throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

Further to the embodiments above, an embodiment of the invention furtherprovides a communicating system, and referring to FIG. 10, thecommunicating system includes:

A macro eNB 101 is configured to determine from transmitting nodesconnected with a UE 82 an uplink transmitting node for currentlyreceiving uplink information of the UE 82; to determine an instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; and toreceive the uplink information transmitted by the UE 82 through thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node after the instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives; and

The UE 102 is configured to determine from the transmitting nodesconnected with the UE the uplink transmitting node to which uplinkinformation of the UE needs to be transmitted currently; to determinethe instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node; and to transmit the uplink information to thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node after the instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node arrives.

With the embodiments of the invention, an appropriate uplinktransmitting node can be determined flexibly to transmit uplinkinformation in the heterogeneous network to thereby lower a burden onthe macro eNB, alleviate uplink interference between the respective UEs,improve the throughput of the system, and save power of the UE.

Those skilled in the art shall appreciate that the embodiments of theinvention can be embodied as a method, a system or a computer programproduct. Therefore the invention can be embodied in the form of anall-hardware embodiment, an all-software embodiment or an embodiment ofsoftware and hardware in combination. Furthermore the invention can beembodied in the form of a computer program product embodied in one ormore computer useable storage mediums (including but not limited to adisk memory, a CD-ROM, an optical memory, etc.) in which computeruseable program codes are contained.

The invention has been described in a flow chart and/or a block diagramof the method, the device (system) and the computer program productaccording to the embodiments of the invention. It shall be appreciatedthat respective flows and/or blocks in the flow chart and/or the blockdiagram and combinations of the flows and/or the blocks in the flowchart and/or the block diagram can be embodied in computer programinstructions. These computer program instructions can be loaded onto ageneral-purpose computer, a specific-purpose computer, an embeddedprocessor or a processor of another programmable data processing deviceto produce a machine so that the instructions executed on the computeror the processor of the other programmable data processing device createmeans for performing the functions specified in the flow(s) of the flowchart and/or the block(s) of the block diagram.

These computer program instructions can also be stored into a computerreadable memory capable of directing the computer or the otherprogrammable data processing device to operate in a specific manner sothat the instructions stored in the computer readable memory create anarticle of manufacture including instruction means which perform thefunctions specified in the flow(s) of the flow chart and/or the block(s)of the block diagram.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto the computeror the other programmable data processing device so that a series ofoperational steps are performed on the computer or the otherprogrammable data processing device to create a computer implementedprocess so that the instructions executed on the computer or the otherprogrammable device provide steps for performing the functions specifiedin the flow(s) of the flow chart and/or the block(s) of the blockdiagram.

Although the preferred embodiments of the invention have been described,those skilled in the art benefiting from the underlying inventiveconcept can make additional modifications and variations to theseembodiments. Therefore the appended claims are intended to be construedas encompassing the preferred embodiments and all the modifications andvariations coming into the scope of the invention.

Evidently those skilled in the art can make various modifications andvariations to the invention without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention. Thus the invention is also intended to encompass thesemodifications and variations thereto so long as the modifications andvariations come into the scope of the claims appended to the inventionand their equivalents.

1. A method for receiving uplink information, the method comprising:determining, by a macro base station, from transmitting nodes connectedwith a User Equipment (UE) an uplink transmitting node for currentlyreceiving uplink information of the UE; determining, by the macro basestation, an instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node; and receiving, by the macro base station, the uplinkinformation transmitted by the UE through the currently determineduplink transmitting node after the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node arrives.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein before the macro base station determinesthe uplink transmitting node for currently receiving uplink informationof the UE, the method further comprises: determining, by the macro basestation, that the UE supports uplink transmission to a single node at atime, according to obtained capability information of the UE; whereinthe macro base station determines that the UE supports uplinktransmission to a single node at a time, in the following approaches: ifthe capability information of the UE carries first indicationinformation for indicating a number of Radio Frequencies (RFs) comprisedin the UE, and the first indication information indicates the number as1, then the macro base station determines that the UE supports uplinktransmission to a single node at a time; if the capability informationof the UE carries second indication information for indicating whetherthe UE supports Multiple Timing Advance (MTA), and the second indicationinformation indicates that the UE does not support the MTA, then themacro base station determines that the UE supports uplink transmissionto a single node at a time; and if the capability information of the UEcarries third indication information for indicating whether the UEsupports uplink transmission to a single node at a time, and the thirdindication information indicates that the UE supports uplinktransmission to a single node at a time, then the macro base stationdetermines that the UE supports uplink transmission to a single node ata time.
 3. (canceled)
 4. The method according to claim 1, whereindetermining, by the macro base station, the uplink transmitting node forcurrently receiving the uplink information of the UE comprises:selecting, by the macro base station, from the transmitting nodesconnected with the UE a transmitting node satisfying a preset selectioncriterion as the currently determined uplink transmitting node; ordetermining, by the macro base station, a transmitting node, whichserves a cell corresponding to identifier information transmitted by theUE in higher-layer signaling, as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node upon reception of the identifier information, whereinthe identifier information comprises identifier information of one ormore cells corresponding to the uplink transmitting node selected by theUE for itself; or determining, by the macro base station, the uplinktransmitting node for currently receiving the uplink information of theUE, according to a rule prescribed between the macro base station andthe UE.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the selectioncriterion comprises one or more of the following criterions: the macrobase station determines distances between the UE and the respectivetransmitting nodes according to current location information of the UEand selects a transmitting node with the distance being the shortest orno more than a preset distance threshold as the currently determineduplink transmitting node; the macro base station selects a transmittingnode corresponding to a cell with a path loss being the lowest or nomore than a preset path loss threshold as the currently determineduplink transmitting node according to path loss information of the UE inrespective cells; the macro base station selects a transmitting nodecorresponding to a cell with a value of Reference Signal ReceivedQuality (RSRQ) being the highest or more than a preset RSRQ threshold asthe currently determined uplink transmitting node according to referencesignal reception conditions of the UE in respective cells; the macrobase station selects a transmitting node corresponding to a cell with avalue of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) being the highest ormore than a preset RSRP threshold as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to reference signal reception conditions ofthe UE in respective cells; the macro base station selects atransmitting node corresponding to a cell with a value of ChannelQuality Indicator (CQI) being the highest or more than a preset CQIthreshold as the currently determined uplink transmitting node accordingto reference signal reception conditions of the UE in respective cells;and the macro base station selects a transmitting node corresponding toa cell with a value of Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) reception qualitybeing the highest or more than a preset SRS threshold as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node according to reception qualities ofSRSs transmitted by the UE in respective cells.
 6. The method accordingto claim 4, wherein after the macro base station selects thetransmitting node satisfying the preset selection criterion as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node, and before the macro basestation determines the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node, the method further comprises:signaling, by the macro base station, the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the UE upon determining that the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node is different from a lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node, wherein the signaling carries theidentifier information of the one or more cells corresponding to thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; wherein the signalingcomprises Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Media Access Control(MAC) signaling or physical layer signaling; and wherein if thesignaling is the physical layer signaling, then determining, by themacro base station, the uplink transmitting node for currently receivingthe uplink information of the UE comprises: at a specified instance oftime, if there is a demand for uplink transmission over any one ofcomponent carriers aggregated for the UE, then determining, by the macrobase station, a transmitting node serving the component carrier, overwhich there is the demand for uplink transmission, as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node. 7-9. (canceled)
 10. The methodaccording to claim 4, wherein the prescribed rule comprises such a rulethat a different transmitting node is selected in each preset changecycle as an uplink transmitting node determined each time; wherein thechange cycles and offsets of different UEs are configured by the macrobase station or prescribed between the macro base station and therespective UEs.
 11. (canceled)
 12. The method according to claim 4,wherein determining, by the macro base station, the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node comprises:determining, by the macro base station, the instance of time to enablethe currently determined uplink transmitting node, according to aninstance of time when the macro base station transmits the signaling,and an enabling instance of time prescribed between the macro basestation and the UE; or determining, by the macro base station, aninstance of time when the macro base station receives a Hybrid AutomaticRepeat Request (HARQ) Acknowledgement (ACK) feedback or an RRC responsemessage transmitted by the UE for the signaling as the instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; or if thesignaling is physical layer signaling, then determining, by the macrobase station, a sub-frame carrying the physical layer signaling as theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode; or determining, by the macro base station, the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, according toan instance of time when the UE transmits the higher-layer signaling,and an enabling instance of time prescribed between the macro basestation and the UE; or determining, by the macro base station, theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, according to a current System Frame Number (SFN), sub-frame numberand offset, and a change cycle corresponding to the uplink transmittingnode; wherein if the macro base station determines the instance of timeto enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, accordingto the instance of time when the signaling is transmitted, and theenabling instance of time prescribed between the macro base station andthe UE, then after the macro base station signals the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node to the UE and before the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting nodearrives, the method further comprises: receiving, by the macro basestation, the uplink information transmitted by the UE through a lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node; or terminating, by the macro basestation, uplink/downlink scheduling for the UE; wherein if the macrobase station determines the instance of time when the macro base stationreceives the HARQ ACK feedback or the RRC response message transmittedby the UE for the signaling as the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node, then after the macro basestation signals the currently determined uplink transmitting node to theUE and before the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node arrives, the method further comprises:detecting, by the macro base station, the uplink information transmittedby the UE respectively through a lastly determined uplink transmittingnode and the currently determined uplink transmitting node; orterminating, by the macro base station, uplink/downlink scheduling forthe UE. 13-14. (canceled)
 15. A method for transmitting uplinkinformation, comprising: determining, by a User Equipment (UE), fromtransmitting nodes connected therewith an uplink transmitting node towhich uplink information of the UE needs to be transmitted currently;determining, by the UE, an instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node; and transmitting, by the UE, theuplink information to the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeafter the instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node arrives.
 16. The method according to claim 15, whereindetermining, by the UE, the uplink transmitting node to which uplinkinformation of the UE needs to be transmitted currently comprises:selecting, by the UE, from the transmitting nodes connected therewith atransmitting node satisfying a preset determination criterion as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; or determining, by theUE, a transmitting node serving a cell corresponding to identifierinformation signaled by a macro base station as the currently determineduplink transmitting node upon reception of the identifier information,wherein the identifier information comprises identifier information ofone or more cells corresponding to the uplink transmitting node selectedby the macro base station for the UE; or determining, by the UE, theuplink transmitting node to which uplink information of the UE needs tobe transmitted currently, according to a rule prescribed between the UEand the macro base station.
 17. The method according to claim 16,wherein the determination criterion comprises one or more of thefollowing criterions: the UE selects an uplink transmitting nodecorresponding to a serving cell with a value of RSRP being the highestor more than a preset RSRP threshold as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to measurement results of the UE forrespective serving cells; the UE selects an uplink transmitting nodecorresponding to a serving cell with a value of RSRQ being the highestor more than a preset RSRQ threshold as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to measurement results of the UE forrespective serving cells; the UE selects an uplink transmitting nodecorresponding to a serving cell with a value of CQI being the highest ormore than a preset CQI threshold as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node according to measurement results of the UE forrespective serving cells; the UE selects an uplink transmitting nodecorresponding to a serving cell with a value of path loss being thelowest as the currently determined uplink transmitting node according tomeasurement results of the UE for respective serving cells; and the UEdetermines distances between the UE and the respective transmittingnodes according to current location information of the UE and selects atransmitting node with the distance being the shortest as the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node.
 18. The method according to claim16, wherein after the UE selects the transmitting node satisfying thepreset determination criterion as the currently determined uplinktransmitting node and before the UE determines the instance of time toenable the currently determined uplink transmitting node, the methodfurther comprises: signaling, by the UE, the currently determined uplinktransmitting node to the macro base station in higher-layer signalingupon determining that the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeis different from a lastly determined uplink transmitting node, whereinthe higher-layer signaling carries the identifier information of the oneor more cells corresponding to the currently determined uplinktransmitting node; wherein the identifier information is an index numberof the cell; or the identifier information is a combination of adownlink (DL) frequency and a Physical Cell Identifier (PCI); or theidentifier information is an ECGI.
 19. (canceled)
 20. The methodaccording to claim 16, wherein if the signaling transmitted by the macrobase station is physical layer signaling which carries uplink schedulinginformation, then determining, by the UE, the uplink transmitting nodeto which uplink information of the UE needs to be transmitted currentlycomprises: determining, by the UE, a transmitting node serving a cellcorresponding to the uplink scheduling information carried in thephysical layer signaling as the uplink transmitting node to which theuplink information of the UE needs to be transmitted currently.
 21. Themethod according to claim 16, wherein the prescribed rule comprises sucha rule that a different transmitting node is selected in each presetchange cycle as an uplink transmitting node determined each time;wherein the change cycles and offsets of different UEs are configured bythe macro base station or prescribed between the macro base station andthe respective UEs.
 22. (canceled)
 23. The method according to claim 16,wherein determining, by the UE, the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node comprises: determining, bythe UE, the instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node, according to an instance of time when the UEtransmits the higher-layer signaling, and an enabling instance of timeprescribed between the UE and the macro base station; or determining, bythe UE, the instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node, according to an instance of time when the macro basestation transmits the signaling, and an enabling instance of timeprescribed between the UE and the macro base station; or determining, bythe UE, an instance of time when the UE receives the identifierinformation transmitted by the macro base station as the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; or ifthe signaling transmitted by the macro base station is physical layersignaling, then determining, by the UE, a sub-frame carrying thephysical layer signaling as the instance of time to enable the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node; or determining, by the UE, theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, according to a current System Frame Number (SFN), sub-frame numberand offset, and a change cycle corresponding to the uplink transmittingnode.
 24. (canceled)
 25. The method according to claim 15, whereintransmitting, by the UE, the uplink information to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node comprises: transmitting, by the UE,the uplink information over an uplink carrier corresponding to thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node; wherein if a plurality ofcomponent carriers among carriers aggregated for the UE are configuredwith Physical Uplink Control Channels (PUCCHs), then transmitting, bythe UE, the uplink information over the uplink carrier corresponding tothe currently determined uplink transmitting node comprises:transmitting, by the UE, the uplink information over a component carrierserved by the currently determined uplink transmitting node andconfigured with a PUCCH.
 26. (canceled)
 27. The method according toclaim 15, wherein after the UE determines the instance of time toenabling the currently determined uplink transmitting node, the methodfurther comprises one or more of the steps of: deleting, by the UE, anuplink scheduling configuration, stored by the UE, corresponding to alastly determined uplink transmitting node; storing, by the UE, a valueof Timing Advance (TA) of a cell or a Timing Advance Group (TAG)corresponding to the lastly determined uplink transmitting node;stopping, by the UE, an SRS, a Dedicated Scheduling Request (DSR) and aCQI from being transmitted to the lastly determined uplink transmittingnode; determining, by the UE, a value of TA of a cell corresponding tothe currently determined uplink transmitting node; and deleting, by theUE, a HARQ buffer, stored by the UE, of the cell corresponding to thelastly determined uplink transmitting node; wherein determining, by theUE, the value of TA of the cell corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node comprises: determining, by the UE,the value of TA of the cell corresponding to the currently determineduplink transmitting node according to a received Timing Advance Command(TAC) Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) transmitted by themacro base station, and the value of TA, stored by the UE, of the cellor the TAG corresponding to the lastly determined uplink transmittingnode after the uplink transmitting node to currently transmit the uplinkinformation is determined; or obtaining, by the UE, the value of TA ofthe cell corresponding to the currently determined uplink transmittingnode in a Random Access (RA) procedure after the uplink transmittingnode, to which the uplink information of the UE needs to be transmittedcurrently, is determined. 28-33. (canceled)
 34. A macro base station,comprising a processor and a radio frequency device, wherein: theprocessor is configured to determine from transmitting nodes connectedwith a User Equipment (UE) an uplink transmitting node for currentlyreceiving uplink information of the UE; and to determine an instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node; andthe radio frequency device is configured to receive the uplinkinformation transmitted by the UE through the currently determineduplink transmitting node after the instance of time to enable thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node arrives.
 35. A UserEquipment (UE), comprising: a processor configured to determine fromtransmitting nodes connected with the UE an uplink transmitting node towhich uplink information of the UE needs to be transmitted currently,and determine an instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node; and a transmitter configured to transmit theuplink information to the currently determined uplink transmitting nodeafter the instance of time to enable the currently determined uplinktransmitting node arrives.
 36. The UE according to claim 35, wherein theprocessor is configured: to select from the transmitting nodes connectedwith the UE a transmitting node satisfying a preset determinationcriterion as the currently determined uplink transmitting node; or todetermine a transmitting node serving a cell corresponding to identifierinformation signaled by a macro base station as the currently determineduplink transmitting node upon reception of the identifier information,wherein the identifier information comprises identifier information ofone or more cells corresponding to the uplink transmitting node selectedby the macro base station for the UE; or to determine the uplinktransmitting node to which the uplink information of the UE needs to betransmitted currently, according to a rule prescribed between the UE andthe macro base station; wherein the processor is further configured: tosignal the currently determined uplink transmitting node to the macrobase station in higher-layer signaling if it is determined that thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node is different from a lastlydetermined uplink transmitting node after the transmitting nodesatisfying the preset determination criterion is selected as thecurrently determined uplink transmitting node and before the instance oftime to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node isdetermined, wherein the higher-layer signaling carries the identifierinformation of the one or more cells corresponding to the currentlydetermined uplink transmitting node.
 37. (canceled)
 38. The UE accordingto claim 35, wherein the processor is configured: to determine theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, according to an instance of time when the UE transmits thehigher-layer signaling, and an enabling instance of time prescribedbetween the UE and the macro base station; or to determine the instanceof time to enable the currently determined uplink transmitting node,according to an instance of time when the macro base station transmitsthe signaling, and an enabling instance of time prescribed between theUE and the macro base station; or to determine an instance of time whenthe UE receives the identifier information transmitted by the macro basestation as the instance of time to enable the currently determineduplink transmitting node; or if the signaling transmitted by the macrobase station is physical layer signaling, to determine a sub-framecarrying the physical layer signaling as the instance of time to enablethe currently determined uplink transmitting node; or to determine theinstance of time to enable the currently determined uplink transmittingnode, according to a current System Frame Number (SFN), sub-frame numberand offset, and a change cycle corresponding to the uplink transmittingnode. 39-42. (canceled)